Box O’ Karlstad

Materials: KARLSTAD sofas (2), birch plywood, wood edging, walnut

Description: Two of the things I love most in this world are modern design and cats. My cats have destroyed furniture in the past so when it was time for a new sofa I was determined to outwit them by finding a modern sofa they could not use as a scratching post. In my search I came across the ‘box sofa’ by Autobahn. Perfect but at $7K, way beyond my budget.

Then I got the idea to make my own. Using birch plywood I bought at Home Depot, I made a box that would fit snugly around the Karlstad sofa. I finished the edges with 1/2 inch wood trim and stained it walnut. I had some red paint and used it on the bottom just for fun. I finished it with three coats of polyurethane. I bought the legs online — not IKEA. It fits the Karlstad like a glove and the cats are foiled… for now. I made two boxes for two sofas. I just love it.

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Jules Yap "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

There is another two-step solution to the cat scratching problem that is much easier. I learned this from a friend of mine who is a vet and cat lover. First, make sure your cat has a good quality scratching post, like the sisal posts made my SmartCat. Second, use clear contact paper cut in strips to cover the corners of the couch. Cats usually scratch only the corners of sofas, so it is only necessary to cover the corners. You can also use double sided tape, but we didn’t find that was necessary. Once your cats have an enjoyable place to scratch, and once the contact paper or tape is on the sofa, they should direct their claws to the scratching post and not your sofa. It has worked for us for years, and the cats are very happy focusing on the scratching post and not the furniture. Since the contact paper is clear and covers only the corners of our sofas, we don’t really notice it day to day. We’d take it off if our place were being photographed for a shoot, but really, it’s not ugly enough to bother us and we are fairly particular people.

I cut the mitered edges with a table saw then glued and nailed them. The bottom edges butt against the frame and hold it all steady. The weight is evenly distributed and with six legs I’ve had no problems with bowing. I’m not an expert carpenter by any stretch and I needed help to lift and guide the plywood through the blade but you can hide a lot with putty and stain. Karlstad is fairly sturdy. The frame just surrounds it. All of the stress remains on the sofa. I’ve had these sofas for about 18 months and see practically no change in the structure since I made it.

I purchased the Karlstad sofas and constructed the boxes to be 1/4 inch wider. The plywood is 3/4 inch birch. The measurements — outer edges — are Height = 20″, Depth = 36″ and Width = 82″. As for the legs I’m not really sure. I made these boxes over a year ago — I only just found IKEA Hackers and thought the project would fit. But I bought the legs online somewhere. I probably googled contemporary metal legs or something similar. Sorry.

I like it. That said, I finally foiled my scratching cats with a microfiber (faux suede) couch. I wasn’t convinced when multiple salespeople at furniture stores agreed it would work, but it has! My cats actually use their scratching posts and not my sofa now!

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